Reliance - My first employer!

It is said that never criticize your employer.  If its your present employer then you shouldn't as it can go against you in the backdrop of office politics and vendetta; if its your ex-employer then never criticize it in front of your new employer as it creates a bad impression about you bitching.  In my case both are not true - for now - so I can vent my frustration now that I have resigned and not joining any corporate in near future.

It all started in August last year when an uncle working with Reliance Industries for the past 20 odd years asked me what for my resume so that he could see if there were vacancies.  I thought it would be a cakewalk as it would be a recommendation and was excited because the company founded by Dhirubhai Ambani has been my all time favorite.  But it was no small deal.  I had to clear 3 interviews - one by a commercial guy who has spent pretty much his entire life in sourcing, one by a technical guy rather a guy who had been in R&D in Philips for a long time and ultimately the Chief Merchandising of Reliancedigital Retail Ltd.  I forgot a 12- minute 50 question test as well.  Though not entirely Reliance ( Digital is part of Retail which is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries), I took the job for two reasons - the eagerness to learn in the largest private sector company and also partly because it was frustrating to sit at home after my first recruiter delayed the joining date indefinitely and I joined as Asst. Manager in the Global Sourcing for the private label brand of Reliancedigital- Reconnect.

The first few days were spent reading the previous order files as part of my training - one thing I feel needs to be changed big time. There should be formal training and not just learn-as-you-work culture. But well I have no say in that.  Most of the documents made very little sense with costing sheets and copies of agreements - General terms and the Non Disclosure.  Thanks to my Gujarati background it was not very difficult to learn them.  Due to unavailability of a PC for some days I spent time reading these documents and some other info here and there.  But that helped me later in my 8 month stint as I had become pretty much comfortable in discussing and finalizing the agreements so much so that my senior manager would ask me to do the job after a couple of agreements and I would just ask him how important it was so that I had a fair idea where the relaxation could be given.

As I had made it clear to my Asst. VP who was our group head that I was interested in IT/Telecom and not accessories I got that to handle.  So the number of products I handled were far too less than my friend Saurabh who too had joined in the accessory department but the work was same if not more as the IT/Telecom was a dynamic sector with rapid changes.  You had to track not only the progress of products you have ordered and make sure they are technically perfect but also on your rivals who could just throw you out of competition with a better product priced below yours.  The initial 3 months were spent under Mr. Pankaj Deshmukh who was my manager and looked after phones.  I was fortunate to work under him as I have learnt tremendously not only working with him but also watching how he worked.  He taught me all the tricks required to survive and grow in the retail sector and much more. Working on Excel without the use of mouse to a great extent from not knowing excel is one of the initial things I learnt from him. I had modeled my working style like him with my folder arrangements in the PC ditto like his.  I shall be thankful to him forever. Another great person I met here was Mr. Ananthan Veeramani who headed the legal department.  Not much interaction with him but whatever little time I spent it was wonderful.  I was smitten by his humility and confidence about his ability to win a case which I overheard when I waited for 30 mins in his cabin.

Then came the reality and my Honeymoon period ( as my AVP describes the first month of any newbie) was over.  In spite of working in the warehouse on one occasion and leaving at the official time of 6 pm, my AVP was unhappy and for a long time kept taunting although jokingly.  Leaving early for freshers was a sin there -  "How can you leave when your boss still works?" was the argument.  So it was usually 7.30 or 8 in the evening before I left.  As suggested earlier I had little work which could be shown in the weekly reviews which landed me up in the bad books of the AVP and till today it was more of a bitter relationship with him.  But mind you, a man of his intelligence and sharpness is difficult to find.  It was great to see him provide views differing to others but made the most sense as was him giving ways to sort out the mess.

After 3 months I was out of phones and into tablets.  And this was with a different manager.  Someone who was very much with the typical working style of the organisation - unorganized and haphazard with focus on getting products on time and not too much on quality ( a typical sourcing guy).  At one point he and I were described as eating, drinking and sleeping tablets- if not digital then medicinal - by a vendor to a Chinese manufacturer.  It was difficult to adjust with him till the last day as he wanted everything immediately and wanted to conclude things before day end no matter what time it was. I somehow managed due to the initial training and kept both him and myself happy.

On numerous occasions I was entrusted the task of getting the SKUs to the stores on priority basis due to many festivals lined up.  This taught me how to have a great relationship with people as most of my work had to be done with friendship rather than authority.  It also exposed the vagaries of the retail sector. In the retail sector you are on your heels 24x7 and are required to solve the issues even from home on leave.  You had to don the cap of any person in desperate times.  I have had the privilege of working in almost all the departments in my short 8 month career from sourcing which was my primary role to new product development and even logistics and quality towards the end which were totally alien.  The knowledge I have gained here is phenomenal.  A job by default for an engineer i.e in the IT sector would not have been able to give me the same knowledge in 2 years as well. The icing on the cake was meeting Mr. Mukesh Ambani who stood just 3 meters away when I had taken a Chinese vendor for the special lunch in the same building where MDA(how Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is addressed) has his office.

But now coming to the introductory paragraph of criticizing your employer.  I have just highlighted the learning above.  But the learning came at a price.  It was immense pressure for six days of the week. An hourly delay has earned me the wrath and anger of my seniors.  The pressure was so much that I used to get work related dreams even though I have slept without dreams all my life.  It was more after March when my best friend and colleague Saurabh left as I had no one to share the angst over lunch and in the bus rides from office to home.  I don't know if it was my inexperience or immaturity but the system out there at least in my team was ridiculous.  In fact there was no system.  Everything was done randomly in a very crude way.  No rules are followed to get the products but just timelines to adhere to and this affects later. Also the way the employees are treated was unheard of.  There was no restraint on language in the meetings which made the females lower their heads as also no respect for seniority. As far as I am concerned there was very little appreciation which over time finished my enthusiasm to work. And the reason was I could not play politics and please the superiors.  I made the mistake of calling a spade a spade in front of the boss which caused friction. The last few days I just used to stand and switch myself off to any comments positive or negative and prayed for the final day.  But maybe such mismanaged environment helped me grow and learn.

Finally I am no longer part of Reliance group.  Honestly speaking it was a mixed feeling for me as I went from one department to the other for clearance.  I felt unhappy as one after the other things were cleared and my feet were heavy when I was moving out.  But thinking of the tension and unhappiness it was good to leave with valuable knowledge and lessons for future.  There is a line in Mahabharata when Bhishma tells Arjun that Victory at any cost is cheap.  Similarly for me the knowledge and learning came at a very small price of a not so good working environment.  Time will prove whether I have more such experiences or better ones.